The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday night gave President Barack Obama a chance to take humor-laced shots at those things in Washington that rub him the wrong way — Republicans in Congress, the media, his critics — and he also directed plenty of friendly fire at himself.

“I look in the mirror and say, ‘I’m not the strapping young Muslim socialist that I used to be,’” Obama quipped at one point, reflecting on how he’s aged into a second term.

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While he was kidding about himself, Obama sharpened his sword when it came to the GOP.

“Some folks still don’t think I spend enough time with Congress. ‘Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?’ they ask,” Obama said. “Really? Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?” The line earned Obama one of his loudest applauses of the evening from the 2,700 in attendance at the Washington Hilton.

Along the same lines, Obama vowed to take his “charm offensive” on the road to “a Texas barbecue with Ted Cruz, a Kentucky bluegrass concert with Rand Paul and a book burning with Michele Bachmann.”

“My ‘charm offensive’ has helped me learn some interesting things about what’s going on in Congress. It turns out absolutely nothing,” Obama said.

The campaign is long over, but the president fired away at wealthy conservative businessman Sheldon Adelson, who spent much of 2012 working against Obama’s reelection.

“Did you know that Sheldon Adelson spent $100 million of his own money last year on negative ads? You’ve got to really dislike me to spend that kind of money. I mean, that’s Oprah money. … Sheldon would have been better off offering me $100 million to drop out of the race.”

It wasn’t all jokes, however. Obama offered some more somber thoughts about recent events to the star-studded crowd.

“Our thoughts are not far from the people of Boston, the people of West, Texas,” the president said. “There are people in the Midwest who are coping with some terrible floods. So we’ve had some difficult days. But whenever the day seems darkest, we have seen humanity shine at its brightest; we’ve seen first responders and National Guardsmen dash into danger, law enforcement officers who live their oath to serve and to protect and everyday Americans who are opening their homes and their hearts to perfect strangers.”